This application claims priority to an application entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INPUTTING CHARACTERS IN A MOBILE TERMINALxe2x80x9d filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Sep. 27, 2000 and assigned Serial No. 2000-56726, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for minimizing the number of keys pressed by a user when a key input unit is utilized to input characters.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, mobile terminals are becoming more compact and lightweight, enabling it to be easily carried. As the size of the terminal becomes smaller, the area of a key input unit associated with the terminal also becomes smaller. Accordingly, most terminals have only basic function keys and a minimum amount of number keys.
Meanwhile, as the number of finctions included in the terminals increase, the number of keys associated with the number of functions needed also tends to increase. In order to solve such a problem, different operations are carried out according to the number of keys pressed so that one key can be utilized to input a number of characters. Therefore, in the case where a keypad in the mobile terminal is used to input a character, a user is required to repeatedly press the same key 1 to 5 times according to the order printed on the keypad. If the user repeatedly presses the same key in succession, the cursor can be displaced to the next character position only after a delay of a predetermined time or an artificial key operation.
In the mobile terminal of the related art as described hereinabove, a number of characters are allocated to one number key and the characters are inputted according to the number of times the key is pressed so that one key must be pressed repeatedly or a number of keys are pressed in order that the wanted character may be displayed. There is a problem that exists where the user waits for a certain time to displace the cursor, artificially, when the same key is repeatedly pressed. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a device or method where a user is not required to wait a certain amount of time to artificially displace the cursor when the same key is repeatedly pressed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing a user of a mobile terminal to easily input characters.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method, which can minimize the number of keys pressed when the characters are inputted into the mobile terminal.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method for inputting characters in a mobile terminal which includes a key input unit and a storage unit for storing a number of characters in mutual association which are arranged in predetermined order, the method comprising: confirming if a key input signal is generated from the key input unit; if the key input signal is generated, searching a number of characters corresponding to the inputted key from the storage unit and displaying the characters in a current cursor position in sequence according to a predetermined time interval; when generation of the key input signal is terminated, maintaining the characters displayed at the point of time when the key input signal is terminated; and displacing the current cursor position to the next cursor position after maintaining the displayed characters.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method for inputting characters in a mobile terminal, comprising: sequentially displaying characters corresponding to pressing a key from a number of keys in a key input unit; and when the pressing of the key is terminated, maintaining a character displayed in a current cursor position and displacing the current cursor position to a next cursor position.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method for inputting characters in a mobile terminal, the method comprising: storing a number of characters in mutual association with respect to each of a number of keys in a key input unit; and when one of the keys is pressed, displaying one character corresponding with a maintained time of the key pressed from the characters stored in association with the pressed key of the key input unit.
According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for inputting characters in a mobile terminal, comprising: a key input unit having a number of keys; a storage unit for a number of characters in mutual association which are arranged in predetermined order with respect to each of the keys; a display unit for displaying a character associated with the key inputted by the key input unit; a controller, for searching corresponding characters from the storage unit and sequentially displaying the searched characters in a current cursor position of the display unit according to a time interval when a key is pressed, and maintaining the characters displayed in the display unit and displacing the current cursor position to the next cursor position when pressing of the key being pressed is terminated.